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Spoonie Guide: Easy Cleaning

Hello everyone, and welcome back to my blog! I hope you got a chance to check out my first Spoonie Guide: Basic Eye Makeup, and some of the tips in there were useful for you. Today I wanted to share with you some of my favorite housekeeping products that help keep my home clean. While this is a spoonie-focused post, this probably isn’t the post for you if you have chemical sensitivities or sensitivities to fragrances, as these items are pretty harsh cleaning chemicals. I’m just sharing items I’ve personally found to make keeping my home in a decent shape until I’m physically able to do a “real” deep cleaning.

I will not tolerate any ableist or abusive comments or language in the comments or on other social media surrounding this post. If the introduction to this post sounds ridiculous to you, this probably isn’t the place for you. I am aware of the waste associated with these products, but these are the best adaptations I’ve found.

I was raised in a household that valued cleanliness and organization, so I’m thankful that I’ve retained most if not all of those skills in my adult life. If I had my way and was physically able, I’d do a once over cleaning of my house once a week, and a deep cleaning with each season (4 times a year). However, since my condition does not seem to be improving, but rather worsening, I’ve had to make adaptations that allow me to have a comfortable living environment without sacrificing too many spoons.

Swiffer Dusters

This product is a lifesaver for weekly maintenance dusting. Keep in mind that individuals with severe environmental allergies benefit greatly from wet dusting often, but it’s just not an option for me anymore. Instead, these dusters gather up and trap dust that accumulates on surfaces, TV’s, shelves, and more. You may still want to occasionally wet dust your items because since you’re only picking up some of the dirt and dust, you may be left with a strange buildup of finer dust after a few months. All you need is one wand and a box of refills handy and you’re good to go for a few months.

Swiffer Wet Jet

I used to use this item all the time. We have vinyl floors in our bathrooms, kitchen, and laundry room, and this made it easy to clean the floor without having to struggle with a mop and bucket, or even worse, washing the floor on my hands and knees (this is my preferred method, but my body is not fond of it). You purchase the wand, solution, and cleaning pads, but the only thing is the “wet” part. You press a button to spray solution onto your surface. This feature is battery powered, and since my batteries died, I never replaced them. I just thought this was another really nice and convenient option for relatively inexpensive floor cleaning. It’s also a good reminder for me to buy some batteries – this was a really great tool, and I’d like to start using it again.

Tilex Daily Shower Cleaner

My shower has always been one of my biggest household struggles, especially since my shoulders and hands give me so much trouble. Our city water system has incredibly hard water that leaves a peach-colored residue on everything rather quickly, so if I can’t keep up with the cleaning, I’m left with quite an ugly mess. My mom picked this product up for me and I was so happy to see that not only did it prevent new pink residue from building up in our shower and around our sink, it actually also cleans away the residue and soap scums that were already present. This is a nice no-scrub option for keeping your shower decent from week to week. You just spray it after you’ve finished showering, and it’s like you were never there.

Clorox Toilet Wand and refills

The toilet has always been another struggle for me. Since we have that hard water I feel like everything gets dirtier much faster, and I just couldn’t seem to keep up with the toilet scrubbing. Kneeling down and trying to scrub inside the bowl and all around is very difficult physically for me. Rich found us this little set that comes with the storage caddy for the wand and the cleaning pads. Each time you clean the toilet you attach a new scrubber. They start out dry, but once they hit the water they begin to lather with a blue cleaning solution. Once the inside of the bowl is clean I usually use Clorox wipes or paper towels with Clorox spray on them to clean around the seat and around the rim. Make sure not to flush the cleaning pads or paper towels, because your toilet will most likely get clogged.

Clorox Wipes

This one might seem a little obvious, but until I got my new puppy, I had kind of forgotten the effectiveness and convenience of having these around. They’re a good way to sanitize and clean up messes quickly, and instead of having to wash rags you can just dispose of the wipes in the trash. They’re great for use around the bathroom and kitchen where a lot of messes usually occur. They’re great for wiping around skinks, wiping up the counter tops, and keeping door knobs and handles nice and sanitized.

Invisible Glass Wipes

Rich introduced me to these wipes to use to clean the glass on my inside car windows. They work amazing and leave nothing behind. These are great to wipe the area of your bathroom mirror above your sink where most of the splashing happens. This will keep the mirror clean for weeks on end. Mirrors get dusty too, and using the Swiffer Dusters on glass sometimes leaves streaks and residue, but these wipes help a lot. It’s also nice to buy just one product instead of a glass cleaner and paper towels.

I think finally the most important thing to remember is to take your time. If you’re anything like me you know that’s hard when you’re just trying to get things done. It’s easy to push yourself too much. But make it a point to do one thing around the house each day. Maybe after the weekend you can make sure things are all put away in their proper places, you can dust on Tuesdays, vacuum on Wednesdays, do the bathroom on Thursday. Just take your time. Keeping up with housework takes a routine and some patience. You may not get everything done today, but you won’t have so much to do when you break it up into sections.

Please give me feedback via any outlet you’re comfortable with, and let me know some of your tips. I’d love to gather some more and share them with everyone.

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4 responses to “Spoonie Guide: Easy Cleaning”

I love this post!! I really struggle with cleaning now. I just don’t have the strength or energy. I’m VERY lucky as my mum cleans for us once a week but I try to do tiny bits daily to help maintain it. Especially dusting as I have bad allergies! That daily shower spray is exactly what I need! We have the same hard water issue. Hope it’s available in the UK! Great post xx

I love, love, love Swiffer dusters. They really are a lifesaver. And the ones with the Gain scent, oh man. My house smells so good after!

This is a great list. I’m gonna have to try that Tilex Daily Shower. I’ve got Scrubbing Bubbles now but I still have to scrub a bit. I feel like the Tilex would prevent me from having to bend all over my shower and tub, haha. Thank you so much for this list!